MALDIVES: THREE PARTIES PRE-REGISTER

UNCLAS COLOMBO 001016 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR SA/INS USPACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM MV SUBJECT: MALDIVES: THREE PARTIES PRE-REGISTER REF: COLOMBO 0997 ¶1. (U) On June 5 the Home Ministry approved applications from three groups to begin the work needed to register as political parties. The three groups included the Dhivehi Raiyithunge Party (Malidivian People's Party),founded by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom; the Dhivehi Raiyithunge Democratic Party (Maldivian People's Democratic Party),also known as the Maldivian Democratic Party, headed by erstwhile detainee Mohamad Nasheed; and the Islamic Democratic Party, headed by Umar Naseer. As the first step in the pre-registration process, the proto-parties were required to submit a petition with the signatures of at least 50 supporters. (Gayoom's party turned in over 200 signatures, according to Presidential Spokesman Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, including, not surprisingly, Cabinet ministers and many members of the People's Majlis.) The groups have another 60 days in which to amass 3,000 additional signatures (or one percent of the population each) and to set up respective party constitutions before being registered as fully functioning political parties. These requirements were contained within the 62-page guidelines for party registration issued by the Home Ministry shortly after the People's Majlis endorsed the President's initiative to allow political parties on June 2 (Reftel). Each of the three applicants held public meetings in separate locations to rally support on June 5. According to Shaheed, the President addressed the maiden meeting of his Maldivian People's Party himself, verbally extending "the hand of friendship" to all parties. Shaheed added that the meeting, which took place in a primary school, was attended by 9,000 supporters. ¶2. (SBU) Despite a somewhat rocky beginning that saw six of its leaders detained for most of June 2--and a June 6 press release warning of undue presidential influence in emerging party politics--the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is optimistic for the future of multipartyism, Mohamad Naseer, an MDP council member, told poloff in Colombo on June 6. Naseer added that MDP Chairperson Nasheed was particularly upbeat--especially since he said he was not mistreated during his brief detention (Reftel). When asked if he feared, as the MDP press release claimed, that Gayoom would use government apparatus to enlist support for his party, Naseer, who runs the opposition Minivan radio news, said he was confident of the MDP's popularity. There will be occasional bumps along the road as the President and his coterie become accustomed to democracy and the concept of opposition, he indicated, but on the whole he believes the trend is positive. ¶3. (SBU) Comment: Arresting pro-reform activists on the very day scheduled to announce a key reform like multipartyism may seem a strange way to mark this important occasion, but apparently there are no hard feelings on the MDP side. We welcome these new developments with cautious optimism, but note with some concern that the lengthy Home Ministry guidelines bar parties from engaging in acts of terrorism or acts intended to undermine the constitution--charges that the government has leveled in the past at the MDP and its members. We do not know Umar Naseer or his new party, but understand that he is not/not connected to "Sheikh" Fareed, the fiery mullah whose arrest helped spark the civil unrest of last August. LUNSTEAD